Ru Zi Ke Jiao

“We measure intelligence in a certain way now, and maybe the whole nature of intelligence will be changing 10 years from now. It won’t necessarily be how much you can retain, how much your hard drive can hold in your head, but it’ll be the way you can assess information, that you can think critically, that you can synthesize information.” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project

Nicholas Carr, author of the book, “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google,” was among those surveyed for the report, and said he stands by what he wrote. “But I would add that the Net’s effect on our intellectual lives will not be measured simply by average IQ scores,” he said in the Pew report.

He continues, “What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence, away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking.”

Sandra Kelly, 3M Corp.’s market research manager and a participant in the study, said she doesn’t think “an adult’s IQ can be influenced much either way by reading anything, and I would guess that smart people will use the Internet for smart things and stupid people will use it for stupid things in the same way that smart people read literature and stupid people read crap fiction. On the whole, having easy access to more information will make society as a group smarter though.”

NASH: The above quotes come from an article entitled: Internet making our brains, different, not dumb I think it’s definitely worth reading, especially if you’re stuck in the wrong age. Hmm, my most loyal readers must be tired of me linking to my “Are you stuck in the wrong age?” post. However, I have many new readers each week and that post is simply too important for today’s young people. Perhaps you should read it again.

One more thing. Dr. Stan Kutcher has an excellent post about how the brain adapts to using our environment and specifically, how using search engines – he focuses on Google, but the results would have to universal – activates a completely new part of our brain. And like everything else we do, the more we use it, the stronger it grows. And vice-versa, thus the old saw: “Use it or lose it.”

“Many communities and educators seem too comfortable with an Industrial Age model of mass production learning and an Agricultural Age calendar that bind educators and students in time, place, and purpose.”

From the book Embracing the Information Age (2001) Source: http://www.stemedcoalition.org/

The Greeks gave names to four of mankind’s ages: the Golden Age; the Silver Age; the Bronze Age; and the Iron Age. You’ve surely heard of the Space Age and most likely have also heard the term, the Stone Age (think The Flintstones.) NASH: Or course, we’re now ensconced in the information age, and some of us are already departing for the next age. [Note: As we develop, like our world, time appears to be moving faster, and thus, the "ages" are evolving more quickly. The Ice Age lasted a long, long time; the Industrial Age, not so much.] I digress.

Back on topic, does any of this sound familiar to you? It should, because if you are someone who knows me personally, then I know that this is how you’ve been educated – industrially (the assembly line part, anyway.)

Remember, at the end of the day, YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible for your education. “Teachers open the door, but students enter of their own volition.” You can’t (actually you can, but you shouldn’t) just sit back and passively learn the things you’re told to learn WITHOUT thinking – without even ASKING if you should be learning these things.

TODAY’S QUESTIONS: What do you think that the next age will be? Which age are you currently in?

Learning to speak a language – any language – isn’t all that hard. Just think about it, children all over the world, and throughout history, have learned their “native” tongue. No one is born fluent in anything other than cry and scream – and even when babies make those sounds they aren’t conscious actions.

The secret as to why children learn to speak so much more easily than adults is actually two secrets. First, they are motivated. (Interest is the best teacher.) The infant wants to learn as a way of having his needs fulfilled. The young children (like those in this video), they want the praise of adults (their parents, teachers). The bottom line is all about their WANTING to learn.

The second secret is that most youngsters haven’t yet learned shame. In other words, they’re not embarrassed by their mistakes, which affords them the freedom to practice. And since oral communication improves greatly with practice, they quickly improve. Enjoy the video, it’s less than a minute.

This picture is a testament to the old saw, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Just look at how clear and concise the instructions are with nary a word. [Yes, I know that it actually includes a few words – “Adding the Page” – at the top; I’m not counting those words as instructions because there are only four steps in this process.

Next time you need to instruct someone, try drawing a picture instead.

The “V” in the title stands for versus, which also has these abbreviations: “vs” and “vs.”